


Warm Hands

by shinguji



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: But I always make a point to include it in Shuichi fics because trans rights, Established Relationship, Fluff, Germaphobia CW, Gift fic :), I'm Bad At Titles, It’s just a sweet date and they’re both nerds, It’s only mentioned like once though, M/M, Planetariums are so COOL, Rated T because there’s like one swear word, Slight fear of heights CW??, Trans Male Character, Trans Saihara Shuichi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24800815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinguji/pseuds/shinguji
Summary: Kaito just really wants to take Shuichi to space. Hopefully, a planetarium is just as good.
Relationships: Momota Kaito/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 7
Kudos: 78





	Warm Hands

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this partially as a gift for a friend (hi, Isaac; I hope you like this and sorry it took ages), partially to get me out of writer’s block, and partially because I just really love Saimota and wanted to write them! Please remember to check the tags for warnings (they’re all really minor, but just to be safe). Anyway, I hope this isn’t too terribly fluffy; enjoy! <3

Shuichi wrapped his arms around himself. “It’s freezing in here,” he mumbled under his breath, shifting back and forth on his feet nervously. He was careful not to shift around too much on this thing, though: as much as stairs made him anxious, escalators were even worse.

“Huh?” Kaito asked distractedly as he stared up at the old planes suspended from the ceiling. The escalator was getting much closer to them than Shuichi had anticipated… how high did this thing go? “Isn’t this—oh, hey, you okay?” Kaito asked, his voice suddenly serious when he turned to face his very nervous boyfriend. He grabbed Shuichi’s shoulder, trying to steady him. “Hey, it’s alright.”

Taken aback by the hand on his shoulder, Shuichi stumbled a bit and hastily latched on to Kaito’s arm, not daring look behind them to see how high up they were. “Y-Yeah, I’m alright,” he agreed, reassuring himself. “Sorry. It’s just really cold in here.”

“The cold is invigorating!” Kaito shouted just a bit too loudly. 

Shuichi just laughed quietly in response and, wrapping his arm around Kaito’s in an attempt to ground himself, looked up at the planes above them, suspended only by thin metal cables. They certainly didn’t look very sturdy, but he supposed they had never fallen before, so it was alright…

“Hey, not that I, uhh, mind you holding onto me,” Kaito said, clearing his throat, “but you know these things have handrails, right?”

“Uhm, yes?” Shuichi squinted at him like it was the worst suggestion in the world. “I didn’t bring hand sanitizer.”

Kaito snickered like he was barely holding back a laugh. “Oh my god, dude. It’s a museum, not a crime scene,” he sighed, brushing back a stray strand of hair on Shuichi’s forehead absentmindedly. “I’m pretty sure you’d be just fine, but I get it, I guess. You don’t have to touch it if you don’t wanna. That’s what my arms are for!”

“I’m pretty sure that’s  _ not  _ why you have arms…”

Still, as much as Shuichi was worried about himself, he worried even more about Kaito: he’d always had a weak immune system. He always promised that he was basically invincible, and even though Shuichi highly doubted that, he tried his best not to worry too much. 

From what Shuichi could tell over the heads of the people in front of them, he and Kaito were almost at the top of the escalator. He tightened his grip around Kaito’s arm and stood on his tiptoes to try to gauge how soon he would need to step off.

Before Shuichi could even get a proper look, though, Kaito just said, “I gotcha,” stepped behind him, wrapped his arms around his waist, and lifted him a few inches off the escalator like it was nothing.

“Kaito!” Even though it was embarrassing, Shuichi was grateful—apparently the top of the escalator was closer than he expected. 

“Sorry, man,” Kaito said, setting him down on the other side. “You were  _ way  _ overthinking that. Uhh, I didn’t hurt’cha, did I?”

Shuichi sighed and tried to relax his posture again, although he tensed up again when he looked down at the first floor. They really did go pretty high up. “No,” he said carefully, trying not to look back over the edge. “I’m fine. My chest already hurt anyway.”

“You gotta learn to take that damn thing off,” Kaito grumbled, grabbing Shuichi’s hand and looking down at Shuichi’s wristwatch as he did so. “Oh, good! We’re not—wait,  _ are _ we late? I can’t tell. I dunno how to read these things,” he admitted, tracing over Shuichi’s palm with his thumb as they walked.

“Sometimes I really can’t believe you’re an astrophysics prodigy.”

Shuichi wasn’t particularly looking forward to this—what was there to see on a huge screen that he didn’t already see in the sky? Kaito had apparently been to plenty of planetariums as a kid, too, and when he was training at NASA a few months ago. Still, he managed to seem so excited, practically tugging on Shuichi’s hand, that it was hard for Shuichi not to feel a little bit excited himself.

“Look, we’re, like, five minutes early,” Shuichi sighed as the planetarium doors opened. There were only a few people in the huge room, and it only added to how massive it felt. 

There were seats running from high above the entrance to all the way down where the floor they had just come from probably was. “Where’s the best place to sit?” Shuichi asked, wrapping his arms around Kaito’s arm and leaning against his shoulder—he was already exhausted. Shuichi wasn’t sure how Kaito could handle such wide, open, dark places; he much preferred cozy, warm, well-lit rooms. 

Space seemed so overwhelming. Even this huge theatre was enough to tire him out. Maybe he just needed to get more sleep…

Kaito crossed his arms in thought. “Usually these things are on flat ground, but this is an IMAX one, so I guess it’s kinda like a movie theatre.”

“Close to the top, but not too high, then?” 

Kaito nearly winced. “Yeah, sure,” he scoffed jokingly. Kaito almost always insisted that they sit in the back row at the movies because he wanted to be “closer to the stars”. Shuichi was pretty sure, though (from what he had deduced, at least), that Kaito just liked being able to hold his hand without anyone seeing. “I’m just kiddin’. You’re probably right. If we sit too high, we won’t be able to see the bottom of the screen, I think.”

Shuichi nodded and led the way for once—he was never very decisive, and Kaito usually took any chance to make decisions, anyway. Shuichi had always admired Kaito’s ability to take control of almost any situation, but it also made him hate to admit when he needed help, so Shuichi did his best to step in sometimes, even if it was with little things like this.

Thankfully, clinging to his hand, Kaito just followed him without putting up a fight.

“Is this whole thing really a screen?” Shuichi asked rhetorically as he sat down beside his boyfriend, letting himself take in the sheer size of the screen that wrapped around the entire room.

“Isn’t it cool?” Kaito agreed as he brushed his thumb over Shuichi’s hand again, continuing to talk in an attempt to cover up the cracks in his voice. Shuichi had always found it funny that Kaito was usually fine with PDA, almost proud of it, actually, but doing sappy stuff in private, without anyone but Shuichi to show off to, made him a nervous wreck, no matter how much he tried to hide it. “I mean, it’s not as cool as actual space, I’m sure… but it’s the closest I’ve gotten so far, y’know? The sky is real, but it feels so far away. This stuff is fake, but it’s so close. It’s nice.”

Shuichi nodded. He had no idea what to expect, since the screen was still dark as more museumgoers came through the doors, but he hoped it was as amazing as Kaito was exaggerating it to be. “Is that why you wanted me to see it?”

“Huh?” Kaito looked confused. “I mean, yeah? Of course I want you to see cool stuff!”

“Well,” Shuichi said slowly, not really sure how to put the realization into words, “space is really important to you, right? But… when you go to space someday, I won’t be able to see it, but this is the closest thing. Did you… want to share that with me? How you’ll feel when you’re in space?”

Kaito’s palms had been getting consistently sweatier as Shuichi spoke, so he finally pulled back to wipe them off and stare off at the blank black screen. “Space is really important to me,” Kaito agreed after a moment, “but you’re really important to me too, y’know? I wish I could take you with me.”

Shuichi smiled to himself and rolled his thumb over the back of Kaito’s hand, happy that he was right. It was quiet in the dark room as Shuichi watched Kaito think over his next words for a moment.

“How I feel about space is the same way I feel about you.”

Oh. Shuichi didn’t really have a good answer to that. He just wrapped his hand around Kaito’s and settled back into his seat as the voice of your average documentary narrator came from the planetarium speakers and the screen started to flicker on. 

The actual scientific topic being discussed wasn’t all that important in that moment as it usually was to Shuichi—instead, he was much more captivated by the galaxies suddenly swirling above him. The drone of the narrator’s voice quickly fizzled out in his mind, and he just stared up at the digital stars instead. Even though the room had been darker before, Shuichi felt so small now as the darkness swallowed the room, only illuminated by fake stars poked through at the top. 

Whenever Kaito said he liked how small and insignificant space made him feel, Shuichi didn’t understand. Kaito had always loved attention, after all, and he usually acted the same when it came to space, talking about “conquering the stars”. Why did he like feeling tiny?

Now, Shuichi felt like he understood a little bit.

Everything around him felt so incomprehensibly  _ big _ , and it was perfect. Kaito always tried to take charge of any and every situation possible, and Shuichi wasn’t much better himself: the idea of being so insignificant and watching the world slip by him would usually stress him out, but actually feeling it…

It was like nothing in the world mattered. The universe was gorgeous and intangible and  _ huge _ , and Shuichi’s mind, in that moment, wasn’t on all the germs on his seat, or that the people in the row behind him were talking, or the fact that the stars he saw were fake.

He could only focus on the coldness of the universe and the warmth of the hand in his. 

“Isn’t it pretty?” Kaito whispered. “I hope this is what space is really like.”

“Shh.”

Kaito laughed under his breath at Shuichi’s focus. “Your eyes are all sparkly right now,” he said quietly, only to be met with another distracted glare from Shuichi for talking and a hand grasping his even tighter. “I’m glad you like it so much. Like, really glad.”

Shuichi just sighed and let his head against Kaito’s shoulder, still staring up at the glittering purples and blues that surrounded the room. After a moment, he whispered, “Thank you, Kaito.”

He contemplated kissing Kaito right then, but Shuichi settled for just staring up at the artificial sky with him—they couldn’t let themselves get distracted for the rest of the film, and it wasn’t like they were in total privacy, anyway.

But when Shuichi noticed how Kaito kept looking at him instead of the screen… well, maybe just one kiss would be fine.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven’t been to a planetarium in years and it definitely shows. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading! As always, feel free to leave feedback <3


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